Graphic source: SiMX TextConverter 4, a product of SIMX Corporation – Princeton Junction, NJ
SiMX TextConverter 4
From time to time, I will be writing a brief article about some professional tools that may give your software support, or professional consulting practice the ‘edge’ over your competition. These articles will introduce you to software and tools that you may never have heard of; however, they are not intended as either a guide as to the specific use of those products, nor a formal endorsement of either the product or its’ developer(s).
In two or three forums lately, I have been noticing that people are looking for ways to convert text data into useful file formats such as CSV, Excel or even perhaps a database. In some cases they need to take this text data and import it into QuickBooks using one of the variety of importers available for that purpose. This short article is NOT focused on importing data into QuickBooks but rather discussing a sophisticated software tool that provides a way of extracting data, including text, from various sources and converting it to beneficial ‘digital’ formats. This tool is designed for professional use, and the learning curve and price will probably mean that very few readers will consider acquisition, but those who do will likely find themselves able to offer their customers, and potential new customers, a service that few other advisors can offer.
SiMX TextConverter lets you capture, structure, transform and consolidate information from virtually any source and make it available in a useful format such as CSV, Access, Excel or a variety of databases including SQL, Sybase and Oracle. You can transform information such as mailing lists, bank statements, emails, HTTP, Web API and almost any other source form or format and turn that information into meaningful data that can be used for almost any purpose. Some of the more advanced versions of the software offer data connectivity to external data sources such as databases, and also provide API interface integration with other systems.
SiMX TextConverter is flexible and relatively easy to learn due to the design of its intuitive visual interface. This provides an opportunity for individuals with limited technical expertise to make use of the product, while at the same time offering advanced functionality to professional programmers.
Sometime ago I used a sample download of this software to convert a 170 page mailing list, containing 27 mailing addresses per page, in three columns, with a variable number of name and address lines per address block, into an Excel file with more than 1400 rows of name and address data. Every row and column of data was perfect. Total project time took about 2 hours for me to learn how to use the product and format the data (I'm a slow learner), and then just minutes for the program to run. Can you imagine how long it would have taken to have had someone input that data into Excel, making certain to check their work along the way?
This was a fairly simple project, but I am confident that this highly 'artificial intelligent’ software could produce the results for almost any text to data project, not to mention many other forms of data manipulation.
This kind of technology isn’t cheap, so don’t go thinking that you are going to plop down $69.95 for a little utility to do your work. This is professional quality software, offered in a variety of ‘feature-rich product levels’. But if you are looking for some high quality software with which to provide a service that few others can match, this may well be what you have been waiting for.
SiMX TextConverter (TextConverter 4 ) is a product of SIMX Corporation – Princeton Junction, NJ